The Barneswald Adventures: New Leaf (Series 2)
by marvelwho
Summary: 1/12. New Leaf: A cybernetic criminal has escaped from a UNIT base. Kate Stewart calls Bucky and Clara to help out and they soon learn they are out of their depth. This criminal is metallic, robotic and unhinged. Catch Story 2 - Wednesday 9th September.
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER ONE**

As the wheezing sound of the TARDIS slowly dissipated into nothing, Clara Oswald ran along the freshly cut green grass with a huge smile on her face. Her long black leather coat fluttered in the wind as her boots kissed the ground. Tugging onto the door handle of the apartment building, she opened the door and was met with a small black cat urinating on the staircase. Frowning, she ran up them, almost dancing and she inserted the key into the keyhole of her apartment door and turned it, opening the barrier.

Expecting to see nothing but an empty room, she was shocked when she saw Bucky lounged out on the sofa with a bowl of popcorn by his side and a baseball cap covering part of his hair. It was longer than normal. He picked his head up when he saw her and the television was turned off.

'I thought you were looking for work,' she sighed, disappointed by his conspicuous apathy.

'I gave up,' Bucky insisted, literally having to drag himself off the sofa. 'I asked down at the accountant agency, they don't have anything going. I asked at the job centre and they didn't have any vacancies. Even the corner shop doesn't have anything going and they employ someone once a week. Anyway, what are you so chirpy about?'

'I just went and met Jane Austen,' she wriggled with excitement whilst plucking the green teabags from the cupboard. 'I tried to make her mention me in Mansfield Park although I don't think she did.'

Bucky heard his mobile phone ring from the bedroom and as he rolled his eyes, he let out a shrill cry and Clara turned around worryingly, almost knocking the mug off the kitchen side.

'I just stubbed my toe,' he yelled.

'Oh go and answer the phone.'

In went the teabag and water and then she stuck a spoon into the mug and began stirring the concoction. I wonder if Jane will remember me, she thought and that was when Bucky came rushing into the kitchen, almost slipping on the laminated floor.

'UNIT were on the phone.'

'Oh why?' she gritted her teeth. 'I was just about to make tea.'

'Oh Clara,' he grinned and took a flask out of the cupboard. 'There's still time.'

As Kate Stewart typed words into her keyboard, she turned around and saw Bucky and Clara enter through the main door. Bucky had changed his loungewear and was now dressed in a plain blue t-shirt and black trousers. Clara held a flask in her hand and glared at Kate who had a look of deep concern.

'Is that tea?' she asked them.

'Why, yes it is,' Clara smiled, placing the white flask on the drawing board table. 'So what is the problem? Bucky said there's something happening involving an escaped Hydra warrior.'

'If only it were that simple,' laughed Kate, but it was not a jovial laugh, it was a laugh full of false enjoyment and nerves. 'Alexander Gorenbourg.'

Taking the projector board monitor from her jacket pocket, she turned the screen on and the image of a middle-aged man came on. He was bald with glasses and a misshapen nose.

'What about him?' Bucky folded his arms and Clara narrowed her eyes at the picture.

'Well Gorenbourg is a HYDRA/White Cobra agent responsible for a number of SHIELD agents' death. About three years ago, a bomb went off inside his hive and HYDRA and White Cobra repaired his mind by inserting cyborg technology into it. This is him now.'

A new image came up of the man but with half of his face silver and metallic. A sinister bloodshot artificial eye filled the space where his original eye was. Part of his lip was missing and replaced with titanium. Even some of the fellow soldiers assisting winced.

'If he's a HYDRA agent why are UNIT dealing with them? Surely it's SHIELD's job?' Clara became confused.

'SHIELD had him contained… for about three hours and then he escaped. UNIT had him contained after that but that was for five hours before he escaped. But who's counting?'

'So what do we do?' asked Bucky.

'Find him,' Kate stepped away from the table and took another look at the picture of the man. 'He had an inbuilt tracker in his skull but he took it out somewhere on the motorway near Croydon. However, we still have two others in his head that he doesn't know anything about. Right now, he's walking around an industrial plant about thirty minutes away. I need one of you to go to the plant and find him and I need one of you to stay here and try to find out a way to bring him down. He had a self-destruct button implanted and we need to try and work out a way to switch it off.'

'You think he'd blow himself up?'

'To kill others? Yes. This man's a psychopath. In 2010, he killed a man and sent his spine to his wife in the post.'

'I'll stay here,' insisted Clara. 'It's not often I get to do the science stuff.'

'Wilson, Hank and Smith, you boys go with James to the industrial plant.'

'Oh, everyone just calls me Bucky.'

'Don't worry. We had the plant evacuated.'

The UNIT soldiers began their journey out the front door and Clara beckoned Bucky back over.

'Take this,' she handed him a long black leather suit. 'It's an industrial plant. You'll stick out like a sore thumb. And be careful.'

She leaned in and pecked him on the cheek and he smudged the lipstick off so she pulled a face.

'You too. Don't blow up the base.'

He smiled and left her side, exiting the building.

'Clara, right?'

She turned around and saw two men. One of them was white with a faint beard and in his late 30s'. The other was a mixed race man with brown eyes.

'Yes.'

'I'm Agent Christwell and this is Doctor Jasper Morrison,' said the white man and shook her hand. 'We're going to be helping you on disabling the self-destruct button. We're both explosion specialists.'

'Well let's get started,' she rubbed her hands together.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

The large black range rover pulled into the car park of the industrial plant. Most of the workers had jumped inside their vehicles and vacated the area but some left in such a hurry they didn't bother taking their cars. Narrowly missing a red Mini Cooper, Agent Wilson pulled into a space. Jumping out of the vehicle, the four men locked and loaded their weapons. Bucky wiped the pistol he was holding and Agent Hank carried the toolbox.

'Just how dangerous is this guy?' asked Agent Smith, following them behind as he stared up at the ugly dim buildings.

'Beats me,' admitted Bucky who was too busy staring at the tracker device in his hand. 'According to this, Gorenbourg is on the second floor in the left-hand corner. He's stationary. Why? You think he knows we're here?'

'I doubt he's that dangerous,' groaned Hank. 'They only sent four of us.'

'Maybe they only sent four of us because they know four people dying is less paperwork,' suggested Smith, causing the other three men to stare at him with distaste.

It took a lot of might to thrust the door open to reveal a reception area with an empty desk and vase which someone had knocked off. Shattered glass was scattered around the space. It had come from a nearby window that overlooked part of the plant interior. Huge machines and staircases with yellow fences covered the area.

'Gorenbourg is still positioned on the second floor. There's a staircase here through these double doors,' announced Bucky as he wearingly looked around. Never before had he seen such fear on men's' faces. 'Hank, you stay here and keep guard in case something happens. Smith and Wilson, you with me.'

'Who the hell put you in charge?' spat Smith and so rolling his eyes, the American turned around.

'As far as I'm aware, the person that put me in charge of this position was your commanding officer. So if you've got a problem with her, you've obviously got a problem with me.'

Without saying another word, he walked through the double doors and stared down at the winding staircase. Looking up, he saw the steps leading upwards into an enigma. The two UNIT officers followed after him as he made his way up the steps.

Walking out through more doors, he found himself on the second floor. Surrounding him were yellow fences protecting people from falling to their deaths and large light fixtures swinging in the gentle breeze. Also, large chrome machines were now silent after being abandoned.

'He's in that corner,' admitted Bucky, looking back at the tracker and then at the corner where the light had been damaged.

Agent Hank stood patiently by the reception desk, glaring out into the car park through the door glass. Hearing what sounded like faint footsteps, he turned around and saw Alexander Gorenbourg standing on the desk with a large metal cybernetic arm and his half-cybernetic face. Smirking, he jumped down from the desk and Hank held his large gun at the man, resulting in him nodding his head.

'Oh as if you're going to shoot me,' he laughed. 'I've been reading all your UNIT files. Jason Hank. Asked to shoot men three times and couldn't, I believe the file said. If you can't kill, why on earth did you become a soldier?'

'Well…'

'There's no point trying to shoot me anyway,' he said. 'I'm always the one to do that.'

Suddenly, he raised his metal arm and holes appeared in the tips of his fingers. Bullets shot out of them and Hank fell against the door and slid down, his blood accompanying him.

'Be quiet,' whispered Bucky as he held the pistol in attack position. 'Gorenbourg's behind these crates.'

As he jumped forwards and extended his pistol, he spotted a small black box on the floor. A pulsating red light was flashing on it and as he picked it up, he suddenly realised what it was and he turned around to warn the others.

'Gorenbourg's tracker!'

Without warning, Bucky was knocked to the ground. Crashing into the wooden crates, he felt them pile on top of them as he was buried and smothered. Gorenbourg shook his metal arm to shake off bits of Bucky's hair and then he aimed his arm gun at Agent Wilson.

Wilson launched the pistol at the psychopath and it took him off guard. Jolting backwards, he watched as the cowardly Wilson flocked towards the staircase. Gorenbourg ran towards him and grabbed hold of his uniform. Wilson was pulled to the ground and then he violently smacked Gorenbourg. As he stood up to take another swipe, he was thrown over the yellow barrier and screamed as he fell. SPLAT. He hit the cold ground, dying instantly.

Painfully, Bucky emerged from the pile of crates and spotted Gorenbourg with Agent Smith in hand. His hand was pushed against his cranium.

'I will shoot this man right in the head,' he claimed as Bucky tried to get his breath.

'Yeah?' he exhaled. 'And what's stopping you?'

'I suppose you're right,' loosening his grip, he winked at Smith. 'After all, he is on my side.'

The pair broke out into a fit of laughter and Bucky was bamboozled.

'I'm sorry? Your side?'

'I'm White Cobra,' giggled Smith as he held his gun up. Now pointed at Bucky, it seemed to smile too and then Gorenbourg outstretched his arm, ready to fire. 'I've been infiltrating UNIT since December. And I'm so sorry about you and Miss Clara. I'm sure she'll miss you greatly.'

Knowing what was coming, Bucky instinctively back flipped behind the pile of crates and narrowly missed the bullets that were charging at him. Running off to the other side of the industrial plant, he thanked God for the men's terrible aim. Reaching into his pocket while running, he took out his phone and dialled Clara's number.

'I think we need to introduce some sort of competing chemical to the shared storage system,' suggested Jasper Morrison as he stared at the computer.

A less than interested Clara fingered the old Cyberman head on the desk with a fountain pen. Maybe she should have gone instead of Bucky. She didn't know anything about what Jasper and Christwell were on about and she kept catching them give her disapproving glares every time she didn't understand something.

Suddenly, the mobile in her coat pocket began ringing and she jumped. The Cyberman head had placed her in a world of boredom and long thoughts.

'Bucky?' she walked away from the table. 'Is everything alright?'

'NO!' he shouted. 'WE FOUND GORENBOURG AND NOW HE'S SHOOTING AT ME ALONG WITH A UNIT SOLDIER WHO'S REALLY WHITE COBRA. HELP ME.'

'Clara?' Kate ran up to her. 'Who is it?'

'It's Bucky,' she hung up. 'They found Gorenbourg and now he's shooting at him.'

'We need to assemble an attack squad. Get him back on the line.'


	3. Chapter 3

Intelligently, Bucky dived behind a large silver machine and Gorenbourg and Smith ran straight past him, thinking he had travelled outside. Sighing a breath of relief, he got back on the phone to Clara and told her about them. Cautiously, he emerged from behind the machine and ran past the others and darted down the staircase. He jumped back when he spotted bullets darting near him from below. Gorenbourg continued his journey down the stairs and Bucky followed straight after, checking his gun was loaded.

As he opened the double doors to the reception area, he spotted Agent Hank's dead body on the floor. His blood was smeared all over the glass and carpet and his body was cold with dead brown eyes. Bucky leant down and closed them out of respect and he heard the silence on the other end of the line.

'Bucky?' sound suddenly invaded his ears. 'What's going on? Are you alright?'

'I'm alright,' he adopted a solemn and sad tone of voice. 'But Agent Hank isn't. Dead as a fish out of water. Smith's White Cobra.'

'You have to stop them. They're most likely off to kill anyone they can find. And Croydon is a touristy area.'

Just then, he heard the sound of an engine rearing. Looking up from Hank's dead body, he saw a large white truck near the convoy. In the reflection of the side mirror, he spotted Smith and top of the truck – Gorenbourg.

'Clara,' he began as he raced out of the front door. 'How many trackers were in his head?'

'Three.'

'So is there one moving now? Look on the screen.'

She checked. 'Yes.'

'Follow that one.'

With that, Bucky hung up and it took the schoolteacher a few moments to notice that. She placed the phone down on the table and Kate told UNIT soldiers to get in a convoy with her and follow the truck. Doing as they were told, Clara ran out with them but noticed Kate standing exactly where she was.

'Aren't you coming?'

'Someone has to stay here and keep track of the cybernetic fiend.'

Agent Smith chortled maniacally as he ludicrously drove the truck onto the motorway. A family of four in a Ford burgundy car screamed as the truck hit them side on. CRASH. The car was pushed into the metal railings separating the different lanes and it overturned. Bye-bye a weekend full of fairground rides and beaches in Skegness.

With such viciousness, Gorenbourg stood up and perched himself on the accelerating truck as it passed a service station. He extended his killer arm and shot bullets at a coaches' tyres. They screeched and the coach went down into a ditch, causing all the passengers to scream with fear. Luckily, they all survived but the driver was knocked unconscious.

Gorenbourg felt a bullet attack his metal arm and puzzled he turned around. Bucky Barnes, who had clutched onto the truck's handles on its back had climbed all the way to the top and was now pointing his gun at the metallic foe.

'How brave of you,' he shot a round of bullets at the man but seeing it coming, he jumped down. 'What could you possibly have that could defeat me?'

'These.'

He launched two metallic discs at the man and his arm fizzed and flinched, causing him to shudder and shake slightly. Bucky took this opportunity to wrap his arms around his neck and pull him downwards, until he hit the top of the white truck. If there was a worst time for his phone to ring, it was now but Clara was calling him.

'I can't get hold of him,' she hissed like a cobra as she watched the convoy pull up on a deserted field. 'Why have we stopped?'

'Gorenbourg is moving towards this location. He'll be near us within the next minute. Which is why we have this.'

Stepping out from the convoy, he helped Clara out the back and showed her a black box. Opening the lid, he showed her a rocket launcher.

'You're going to fire this at him?' she said.

'You are. I don't have clearance to use weapons.'

'Oh,' she sarcastically began. 'Great fat help you are.'

Then her phone rang and she stuck her head inside the convoy and received the phone. It was Bucky.

'Clara,' she heard heavy breathing. 'This better be urgent. I'm on top of a truck with Gorenbourg.'

'I see you!'

Looking over at the near motorway, she saw the truck and the two silhouettes of the men fighting. Bucky kept slapping the cybercriminal but he was continuously being flung back on top of the vehicle.

'Can you do anything to help?'

'I have a rocket launcher.'

'Shoot it when I say so.'

'What? Are you mad? If that truck blows up then you'll die. Besides, who's driving it?'

'Oh some White Cobra bitch, I don't know his name.'

'I am not firing a rocket towards you!'

'Just trust me. Please.'

'OK… well just make…'

'NOW.'

'LONG LIVE THE MISTRESS,' cried Gorenbourg but Bucky didn't hear.

Throwing the phone on the floor, she scooped the rocket launcher up with extreme difficulty and looked through the target hole. There was a clear shot coming up and finding the trigger, she apprehensively pressed it and that was when Bucky launched himself off of the truck and just in time. He fell against an overhead motorway sign advertising a route towards the North and grabbed hold of one of the bars. Dangling above the motorway, he looked over at the truck. Gorenbourg noticed the rocket coming towards them.

'Well crap.'

BOOM.

Within an instant, the vehicle exploded and drivers screamed as fiery debris fell onto their cars and they swerved, hitting the metal railing segregating them from the drivers going in the opposite direction. Gorenbourg's metal arm landed in a ditch while part of his leg flew on top of a crashed car. A truck tyre rolled around for about ten seconds before stopping and falling down.

Hanging on, Bucky estimated that it was a thirty foot drop. Not wanting to risk it, he trekked across the sign, holding onto dear life. Eventually he reached the pole part. Wrapping his strong legs around the pole, he slid down it and landed by the road. He watched as the drivers stopped their vehicles to gaze at the blazing wonder. He could quite clearly see Agent Smith's dead body hanging out one of the truck's windows.

'Bucky!'

Turning around, he saw Clara running down the grassy hillside. Her ponytail was fluttering in the wind and she clambered over the metal barrier and ran up to him. She practically jumped on top of him, wrapping her arms around him and kissing him on the lips.

'My God, are you alright?'

'I'm fine,' he kissed her back and then wrapped her in a warm comforting embrace.

The UNIT soldier raced down the hillside and took one look at the burning mess.

'Well,' he rolled his eyes. 'I wonder which sap is gonna have to clear that up.'


	4. Chapter 4

Back at UNIT HQ (The Tower of London), Clara and Bucky stood outside one of the entrances, hot cups of green tea in hand. Kate Stewart spoke harshly to a SHIELD representative on the phone as she spat words into the device. Tugging on her red tartan shirt, she looked over at Bucky and Clara who were busy discussing the ordeal they had been through.

'I was so scared about firing that rocket,' she admitted, horrified of the thought that she could have been cleaning up her boyfriend's remains off the motorway.

'Babe, I got straight As in my martial arts classes. I know how to jump off a truck.'

'That might be so but even still accidents happen. If that motorway sign wasn't there…'

'I just spoke with Agent Phil Coulson,' interrupted Kate as she ended her phone call. 'He seemed pretty pissed that UNIT dealt with Gorenbourg rather than SHIELD.'

'Excuse me?' laughed Clara. 'Bucky and I were the ones that dealt with Gorenbourg. If he didn't think about following them on that truck or me firing that rocket, he'd still be out there.'

'Bucky,' Kate seemed to ignore Clara's hurtful words. 'I hear you're out of work.'

'Well SHIELD don't want much to do with me…'

'How would you like to work for UNIT? Missions officer?'

'Sounds good to me. I'll call you later with details.'

Walking off, Kate rang SHIELD again and demanded that she spoke to Nick Fury.

'Looks as if my little Bucky Bear finally has a job,' she nudged him playfully. 'It's a new leaf.'

'Bucky bear?'

'I guess it'll take some getting used to.'


	5. Chapter 5

Back at the apartment, Bucky bit into his pepperoni pizza he had purchased from the little takeaway down by the cafes. Clara was sorting out the bookshelf in the living area. What's Dracula doing over by Pride and Prejudice? She thought to herself.

'I'm sorry,' Bucky said and Clara left her books and turned to look at Bucky.

'What for?'

'For making you fire that rocket. You ended up killing someone?'

'Well that someone was going to kill you!'

Walking over to him, she sat down on the sofa and began playing with his hair.

'You were amazing,' she kissed him on the nose and looked into his soft eyes. 'It was very brave of you to cling onto that lorry just to catch that horrible man.'

'I guess,' he grinned and that made Clara do the same.

'Now go and have a shower,' she tapped his chest. 'You smell like oil and exhaust fumes.'

'Fair enough,' he rose and placed the pizza back in the box. Walking over to the cupboard, he pulled out a red towel and took it into the bathroom.

Sneakily, Clara took the half-eaten slice of pizza and began chewing on it. Strolling over to her bookcase, she noticed the copy of Mansfield Park calling to her. Picking it up and flicking through it, she went to the acknowledgments section and giggled a little.

'She _did_ mention me.'

 **NEXT TIME: BUCKY, CLARA AND LUCY ACCIDENTALLY AWAKEN AN ANCIENT CURSE THAT BRINGS A MUMMY BACK FROM THE DEAD.**


End file.
